Before I proceed, I welcome from Dublin City Council, Councillor Dermot Lacey, who is no stranger to local government. I call Senator Fitzpatrick.

We have had seven speakers so far. We have only three more indicating to speak on this debate, from a Chamber of 60 Senators. The next three people who have indicated to speak are Senator Cassells, Senator Ward and myself. I will step out of the Chair to speak. We have no other offers but they may come in. Some Senators are at meetings, including parliamentary party meetings, but it remains to be seen. The Minister of State will then have an opportunity to come in. I just want to give an indication. There are only …

I thank everyone who has partaken in this debate. I welcome Councillor Dermot Lacey from Dublin City Council. Might I say, he is not the only one following this debate. I just got a text in stating “Senator Cassells is on fire but he is right”. I do not want to embarrass him but I think he is right too. I think he is on fire and passionate about local government. I commend him on that. I welcome the Minister of State. He has been a reforming Minister of State and perhaps one of the best I have come across in the se…

You will look at all of that.

Hear, hear.

I want to be associated with the kind remarks to the Romanian ambassador and his staff. I have been to Romania on a number of occasions. It is truly a beautiful place, and they are beautiful people. I also acknowledge that many Romanians work in the Seanad, including Ilinca. We have many Romanians working in the catering, housekeeping, secretarial, administration and security services. Romanian people are very much immersed in our society, and particularly in our parliamentary community. That is fantastic and I ack…

I look forward to travelling to Canada shortly.

I welcome the Minister of State to the House to take these Commencement matters. I know this is not a matter directly related to his Ministry but it relates to the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, who is our Minister for arts, culture and media. The matter is to ask the Minister for arts, culture and media to make a statement on her new funding proposals for newspapers, local radio stations and other radio stations, for that matter, to facilitate the coverage of local authorities and the Courts Service. Access to…

I thank the Minister of State for that detailed response to the Commencement matter. The Minister of State touched on the application being made to the European Commission to review the scheme under the state aid rules. Clearly, that has delayed the establishment of the schemes. I received correspondence from the chief executive of Newsbrand Ireland, Ann Marie Lenihan, flagging this issue and other issues. I would like the Minister of State to convey my thanks to the Minister, Deputy Martin, in respect of these mat…

I raise the Peter McVerry Trust and the work it does. I commend the Government on having approved yesterday the advancement of €15 million to the trust for the homeless. Homelessness is very obvious and in our face, but it also feeds into deprivation, social isolation and many of the other issues that propagate disquiet within our community. It is important, therefore, that the Government has acknowledged this. The Department does not normally directly fund homelessness charities; that funding usually comes through…

I knew Tras Honan very well. I send my sympathies to her family and the Fianna Fáil Party. I first met her in 1982 at the funeral of Dr. Bill Loughnane in Ennis in County Clare. By golly, she was a feisty, determined, pragmatic, driven and focused politician. She loved the Seanad. When she had the opportunity she opted not to succeed Bill Loughnane in the by-election of 1982, which was won, surprise, surprise, by Donal Carey against the Fianna Fáil odds. I met her, along with Síle de Valera, of whom she was a great…

There are only four amendments for us to consider, which says something about the Bill, although it depends where one is coming from. I listened to the Minister's response to Senator Clifford-Lee. Am I to take it that, in principle, he is in favour of this amendment? He explained his point about the measure delaying the Bill. That is fair enough, but will the Minister be proactive in reintroducing this measure in future legislation? He talked about another Bill that he might be able to work it into? Is the Minister…

That is all well, good and dandy, and I understand it, but this is a very simple ask. I refer to the wording in this regard, namely, "That it shall be an offence for a person to advertise a nicotine inhaling product in a cinema". It does not get any simpler than that. The Minister for Health does not need a lecture from me or anybody else about the importance of the context of advertising and nicotine. He is either in favour of the principle or he is not. The Minister said he is not going to give a commitment on th…

I move amendment No. 3: In page 21, between lines 10 and 11, to insert the following: “Regulations relating to sale and supply of tobacco products 33 . The Minister may make regulations— (a) prohibiting or restricting a person from selling or supplying, or causing to be sold or supplied, tobacco products at a cheaper price on a per-cigarette basis, in cigarette packs above the standard 20 pack, in a manner likely to encourage the consumption of tobacco products in a harmful way through bulk discounting, and (b) tha…

I thank the Minister. He said it; instinctively and intuitively he agrees with the principle and the rationale I set out for the amendments. In 2022 the University of Bristol carried out extensive research, which I will send him in the morning. I am sure the officials have it, or at least they should have it if they were preparing and were aware of the extent to which we would be discussing the matter today. The University of Bristol clearly identified there is a major increase in the consumption of cigarettes wher…

And you could break up the packets.

I move amendment No. 4: In page 27, between lines 12 and 13, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 38 of Act of 2002 45. Section 38 of the Act of 2002 is amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (1): “(1) It shall be an offence for a person to sell cigarettes by retail other than in a packet containing 20 cigarettes.”.”.

I second the motion.

I commend my colleague and friend, Senator Michael McDowell, on driving this initiative. Let us be careful in what we are doing. I know we will have the full support of this House, if this motion is approved. The motion calls on the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission to abandon its proposals to convert the space into additional committee rooms and event spaces. That is to be commended. I fully commend the library and research unit. Its staff are professional librarians. They are not bookkeepers, book attendants or…

It is doing significant work.